Links

Website Links Policy
This policy sets out requirements regarding linking from and to the City of Allen's official website.

The City of Allen website contains links to other Internet sites and resources as a convenience to the viewer. The City of Allen is not responsible for and accepts no liability for the availability of these outside resources. Linked websites are neither under the control of, nor maintained by the City of Allen and the city is not responsible for the content of these websites, which can and do change frequently; nor for any internal links the displayed websites may contain. In addition, the inclusion of a linked website does not constitute an endorsement or promotion by the City of Allen of any of these websites or materials found there.

Viewers should also be aware the City of Allen is not responsible for the privacy practices of those websites when linked to them through the city's website. Viewers must be aware that when they leave the city's website via links to other sites, the information found is beyond the scope of city control. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data or solicit personal information. Viewers should read the privacy statements on these linked websites. The City of Allen's privacy statement pertains only to the website under its sole control.

Links to Other Sites The purpose of the City of Allen website is to promote the programs, services, policies and objectives of the City of Allen. The city reserves the right to refuse any website link or to delete links already posted at any time, in conformance with this policy, without notice.

Requests for External Links
Any request for an external link will undergo review to determine its relevance and appropriateness, using the following criteria:

The city will consider providing a link to the following types of websites:

A city board, commission or committee

A community organization that receives funding from the City of Allen

A federal, state or local governmental agency or public school

Agencies, organizations and companies sponsoring or otherwise participating in city activities as related to that city activity

An established news-gathering organization, being either a newspaper of regular, paid circulation or a television station that provides local news regularly and maintains a national network affiliation

Companies and organizations that provide life-sustaining, public safety and public health information

Companies or non-profit organizations that provide a public service to the community

Local web portals that direct users to community services in the City of Allen

The city will not consider providing a link to the following types of websites:

Adult material not related to health education

Businesses or non-profit organizations unless they fit any of the criteria stated above

Individual or personal websites

Political campaigns and endorsements

Political organizations or other organizations advocating or opposing a local, state or federal issue or ballot proposal

Promotion of illegal materials or information, such as hate speech or obscene content

Religious organizations or the promotion of religious information

Private Website Advertisements
Certain private websites to which the City of Allen may provide an external link may include advertising or promotional material in the information display. The City of Allen is neither responsible for nor supports or promotes such advertising.

Links to the City of Allen's Website
It is not necessary to obtain advance permission to link to the City of Allen's website if you are making a simple link to the home page. Please note the City of Allen may change URLs and subpage paths at any time.

Links to the city's website must not be made within frames or otherwise present the city's content as that of an outside site. Any link to the city's site should be a full-forward link that passes through the client browser to the city's site unencumbered. The back button should return the viewer to the external website, if they wish to back out of the city's website. Although content on the city's website is public information, the City of Allen maintains and will defend a copyright interest in these pages.

Do not link directly to individual graphics or tables within the city's websites, especially in an effort to place the downloading burden on the city's server. Such action may be considered a misuse of city resources. Contact the City of Allen's Public Information Office to get permission to use a copy of city's graphics on external websites.

Removal Process
The City of Allen may remove any external link for the following reasons:

Access to the information has become difficult due to non-standard formatting, lengthy download times or intrusive advertising

The link is permanently unreachable or remains unavailable for a lengthy period

The link no longer points to the original information or resources for which it was approved

The link points to information that is inaccurate, misleading or otherwise violates the aforementioned criteria